This guide contains information on how to unlock each achievement within the base set, offering clear steps and strategies to ensure your success.

• 💎 Achievement Guide
  • 🏆 Progression
  • 🎖️ Character-Specific
  • 🏵️ Misc. Challenges
  • 🏵️ Bonus Levels
• 📜 Credits
• ✏️ Footnotes

Set consists of 25 achievements worth 150 points

Set released on 24 October 2020

• Longplay (YouTube)

Firebugs is a relatively short and straight-forward racing game spanning three leagues, each with its own pacing and power-ups available. All leagues span the same five worlds, which you can tackle with any of five racers (each having their own vehicle with its unique characteristics). Each of the racers hail from one of the five worlds as their "homeworld".

In this game you can pickup and hold two powerups simultaneously, occupying the left and right shoulder buttons with offensive and defensive/boost powers, respectively. You'll always pickup an offensive power (left) first, and only pickup defensive powers (right) if your left slot is occupied. The exception to this is during the Sonic League, when all powerups on both slots are boosts exclusively. When carrying two boosts, they can be used simultaneously with L1+R1 for a double boost.

Handling depends heavily on keeping your vehicle aligned, especially around turns and when banking off walls. It's easy to spin out or flip, and there are many areas where your vehicle can fly off the track. One of the gimmicks of this game is the ability to drive on the ceiling, when applicable, and that your vehicle drives just fine when flipped over. Thus, if driving on the ceiling and it ends, it's possible to land entirely upside-down and keep racing forward without issue, as long as you are steady and aligned forward. Your tires will start to smoke if you're close to losing handling control. When moving around corners, tap off the accelerator to reduce risk of losing control or spinning out. Turning in general can be done with brief presses of the d-pad rather than hard turning. As long as you're gentle with corrections, you can take turns at high speed without trouble.

The game can be a bit visually chaotic but only takes some practice to get used to the environments and handling.

The basic gameplay loop for each league is as follows:

1. Select racer
2. Select league
3. Select world
4. Qualifying race (3 laps) - if qualifying in first place ("pole position"), you move directly to the finals and skip the heats
5. 1:1 heat races (1 short lap)
6. Finals race (5 laps)

Championship for each league only depends on finishing first across all five worlds. This means if you finish first in both the qualifier and finals, a total of 10 races is needed in each league to win the championship in that league.

With the exception of going for The Heat is On achievement, you're going to want to finish first in all qualifiers to skip the additional heat races and tackle the final races immediately. In case you're about to finish a qualifier not in first place, you can simply quit the race and start over - once you've finished in another position, you'll have to complete all the heats before hitting the finals. While the heats are short, racing them adds significant time to completing a world, so take advantage of this trick to save time.

Title	Guidance & Insights
Pole Position	Finish in 1st place in a qualifier race in any league world This should be your target on all qualifiers, except if explicitly going for The Heat is On
The Heat is On	Win any heat in a league If you finish a qualifier in any position other than first, you'll have to complete multiple "heat" races before the finals. This will likely happen at some point during your complete run, unless you're quitting qualifiers to avoid them. If you don't happen to end up in one during your progression, simply revisit any of the worlds and avoid winning the qualifier for your chance to take on one of these short races.
Phoenix League Champion	Win the Phoenix League This is the easiest league, with the slowest race speed, least aggressive AI, and all powerups available. Simply finish first in the final race on each of the five worlds, and upon winning the fifth you'll also unlock a championship trophy for the league.
Aurora League Champion	Win the Aurora League This league will be a bit faster speed versus Phoenix, with slightly more aggressive AI, and all powerups available. Simply finish first in the final race on each of the five worlds, and upon winning the fifth you'll also unlock a championship trophy for the league.
Sonic League Champion	Win the Sonic League This is the fastest speed league, with the most aggressive AI, and all powerups will be boosts exclusively. Take advantage of double boost by collecting two powerups (in both your left and right slots), and use them together with L1+R1 simultaneously for a much higher boost. This is an easy way to recover when passed, or to lengthen your lead during straightaways. As with the others, finish first in the final race on each of the five worlds, and upon winning the fifth you'll also unlock a championship trophy for the league. This achievement counts as the win condition for beating the game.

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There are two character-specific achievements for each driver: one for finishing first in any final, and one for finishing first on the driver's respective homeworld.

Gismo: Aerial City
Karrie: Archipelago
Zero: Droid Gardens
B.O.W: Terrain Dunes
Kami: Sky Port

Title	Guidance & Insights
Gismo	Playing as Gismo, win the final race in any league world
Brown Bullfrog	Playing as Gismo, unlock his paintjob by winning his home race (Aerial City)
Karrie	Playing as Karrie, win the final race in any league world
Orange Guppy	Playing as Karrie, unlock her paintjob by winning her home race (Archipelago)
Zero	Playing as Zero, win the final race in any league world
Purple Scorpion	Playing as Zero, unlock his paintjob by winning his home race (Droid Gardens)
B.O.W	Playing as B.O.W, win the final race in any league world
Blue Stallion	Playing as B.O.W, unlock his paintjob by winning his home race (Terrain Dunes)
Kami	Playing as Kami, win the final race in any league world
Red Wolverine	Playing as Kami, unlock her paintjob by winning her home race (Sky Port)

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Title	Guidance & Insights
One With the Machine	Win the final race in any league world with driver assist set to off You can disable driver assist in the options menu, under "Game Options" (it's on by default). Driver assist gives some slight assistance with handling, but doesn't differ very much. Go easy with acceleration around turns and try not to over-correct, and this shouldn't give you much additional trouble. As with the character-specific achievements, this one is easist accomplished on the Phoenix League. You can complete the qualifier with driver assist enabled and simply turn it off before racing the final.
Zoombug	Over the course of a league qualifier or final race, pass 3 other pilots while going 500 MPH or faster This is most likely to come during Sonic League, with double boosting while in 4th or 5th place to recover your lead. It happened for me while flying off the course after taking a turn too fast 😅
The Need for Speed	Reach a speed of 620 MPH in a league qualifier or final race This is almost certain to come naturally during your progression. If not, it'll be easiest in the Sonic League by using a double boost.
The Perfect Race	Win the final race in any league world while getting at least 4 perfect laps (Aurora or Sonic League only) Stay in first place while avoiding crashing (being destroyed or falling off the course) and this is yours. Probably easiest during the Aurora league, which is the most balanced between speed and rival AI difficulty. If you're having trouble, be sure to make strategic use of boosts on straightaways, and remember to take corners carefully by tapping off the accelerator and not over-correcting with the directional buttons.

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The Bonus Levels are unlocked by winning the championships of each league, and will appear as a new option in the Practice mode.

Title	Guidance & Insights
Charlie's Mode	Win a race in Charlie's Mode (bonus level) Ten laps over a reversed-layout course, with standard powerups. This is the easiest of the bonus levels, and doesn't require much beyond the standard strategies: make good use of powerups, tap off the accelerator in tight turns, and boost on the straightaways when able.
Destructor Mode	Win a race in Destructor Mode (bonus level) Another ten-lap race, this time all racers start with two powerups and constantly reroll them automatically rather than picking them up from the course. The start of the race will be very chaotic, as most competitors will fire off missiles immediately. Just focus on spamming your defensive powers and boosts as they respawn, and try to avoid flying off the course, and you'll be able to push through to the lead. Once in first place, it is a bit easier to build some distance using boosts, which will give you a bit of a safety net.
Sledgehammer Mode	Win a race in Sledgehammer Mode (bonus level) Like in the previous Destructor Mode, all racers start with two powerups and constantly reroll them automatically rather than picking them up from the course. The start of the race will be very chaotic, as most competitors will fire off missiles immediately. Your goal should be to muscle through to the front and start building distance. Spam your R1 powers to keep restoring shields and boosts, and you should be able to take first within the first half of the race and build a healthy lead from there. Personally I had an easier time with this one versus Destructor Mode, but it might have been from getting used to the chaos.
Eliminator Mode	Win a race in Eliminator Mode (bonus level) In this mode, the driver in last place is eliminated in each of the final three laps, such that there are only two racers remaining at the end of the race. Other than that, there's nothing additional to make it more challenging than any normal race, and it is on a particularly short track. so this should be pretty straightforward.
The Ice Man - Part 1	Get a time of 30.70 or better in Ice World One Mode (bonus level) These final ice levels are unlimited time trials with very low traction. Your first lap will essentially be a throw-away as you won't be able to start with any significant speed, but should plan to cross the finish line and start your subsequent laps with as much momentum as you can manage (or even boost as approaching to start off with high speed). Grab powerups and use the double boost (L1+R1) on straightaways (which will also help give you more traction). Don't focus so much on staying straight and level on this track, but ride the walls and side rails to keep your speed. Eventually you'll get the hang of the course and manage a time under the achievement target.
The Ice Man - Part 2	Get a time of 23.73 or better in Ice World Two Mode (bonus level) This is the toughest achievement in the game, on a short but narrow oval track and no walls or guardrails. As with the previous ice track, traction is very low and it will take time to build up speed, initiate turns, or straighten out of a turn, and it is easy to overcorrect. The best approach for this is to take attempts in pairs of laps: a setup lap to begin, followed by your actual "attempt" lap. As you are nearing the finish line on your setup lap, use a single boost to cross at high speed. At the first turn, the track splits into an upper/lower section. While the upper section is easier to tackle because of the wide banking, I found that it took too much time even when I was able to keep a high speed. Instead, my successful attempt involved taking the lower/inner and very narrow section carefully. I had to slow down quite a bit to avoid falling, but was still able to beat the target lap time. After rounding the first turn and straightening out, boost into the straightaway and toward the second turn. Focus on making it all the way around the second turn, and once onto the final stretch immediately fire off a double boost. At this point, you're just trying to make it over the finish line as fast as possible - don't even worry about flying off the course, the game will still record your lap time even if you're falling down below the track. On my final successful attempt, I flew off the track way before the finish line but was traveling so fast from the boost that it was good for a winning time. Don't get discouraged, and just keep taking your laps until you have a solid setup and attempt. If you fall during an attempt, let that become your new setup lap and try again on the next go around.

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RA-User	Role
TeddyWestside	🟉 Achievement Set Developer - Thanks to TeddyWestside for the set!
defines	🟉 Contributor | RA-Guide Author - Author of this guide. Thanks for reading!
ASolidSnack	🟉 Contributor | RA-Guide Design - Developer of the RetroAchivements Guide Designer tool, used in the creation of this guide.